A writer-mom's life is filled with a million and two distractions; sometimes she finds herself at the park, WRITING ON THE SIDEWALK

Author Spotlight: Erin Dealey

I heard Erin Dealey and her agent Deborah Warren speak at a recent SCBWI meeting. The presentation was fun and informative and I knew that I had to ask Erin to step into the spotlight.

Author Bio:

Erin Dealey writes fiction for kids, from toddlers to teens, including picture books GOLDIE LOCKS HAS CHICKEN POX and LITTLE BO PEEP CAN’T GET TO SLEEP (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster), two novelty books (Unibooks), a paired reader (Pearson), poetry, and plays. She is a K-12 Language Arts/ theater teacher, Co-Regional Advisor for SCBWI California North/Central, and tweets far more regularly than she blogs. (@ErinDealey)

Author Spotlight:

WOTS: What was your road to publication?ED: Mine is a slush pile success story. As a high school theater teacher, I wrote skits and plays for my students as well as elementary classes to perform. My first published play was “The Christmas Wrap Rap” in Plays magazine. (And you thought my Writers’ Rap youtube was a first!) One day I picked up a YA novel left behind by one of my drama students and thought, I could do this. I always told my students to follow their dreams, so I took my own advice. I starting writing a YA and swapping pages with a fellow teacher, author Anne Martin Bowler. But Annie was having me read a picture book pages while I gave her chapters. This is when Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox popped into my head. To my surprise it was like writing a skit or play, a story to be performed (or read) aloud, and keep “audiences” coming back for more. When Goldie was done, I queried two publishers and received a rejection slip right away from one of them. The other editor asked me to send the full manuscript, which I did. During the summer, I run the Theater Department at Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp, so I truly lost track of how much time had passed. In September, I got a call from a Senior Editor at Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, who eventually offered me a contract.WOTS: Can you tell me a bit about your writing process? Do you plot or not?

ED: With picture books, I start with a title or concept and see where it goes. Most of my first drafts are hand-written “sloppy copies.” Even with longer works, I try to get the story out first–beginning to end–to see where it goes. Because of all my theater work, characters, voice, and dialog come easy. I’m definitely plot-challenged. With my most recent WIP, another YA novel, I’d just finished the first draft when we went on vacation–far away from computers–so I ended up mapping it out in a notebook. This turned out to be an incredible help in my revisions.

WOTS: Are you working on any new projects that you can tell us about?

ED: The current YA is set in the theater department of a high school. As you can tell, whenever I work on longer manuscripts like this, picture book ideas pop up, so I use those to take a break on my WIP. Let’s just say I’ve been taking plenty of pb breaks lately.

WOTS: Describe your studio or usual work space for us.ED: The best description would be…spacious, wall-to-wall books, gorgeous view. The minute I step into it, I’m inspired; and the house elf arrives at midnight to keep it that way. A more honest description would be…cluttered, every inch of desk space covered with notes, a few To Do lists, and piles of books. Luckily my inspirations come from kids–my own, all the students I’ve ever taught, and the kid inside me who never grew up–not an office. (Did you really believe the part about the house elf?)

WOTS: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

ED: Writing for kids encompasses many of the paths I’ve already taken: mom, teacher, actor, director, playwright, book store manager–maybe not my stint in the Pineapple Factory (see erindealey.com for details), but you never know.

WOTS: What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?

ED: Well the Pineapple Factory gig is out of the bag now. And my on-screen credits will be too if people check out my web site. I always tell kids at school visits that no one expected me to write books some day, but most adults don’t know this. I started college as a Math major/French minor, and ended up with a degree in English and Art.

WOTS: Has your experience as a drama teacher helped you with your writing?

ED: Most definitely. As I said before, picture books–even longer works—are theater. You need to engage your audience from the start, make sure they come back at intermission, and give them something to chew on after the curtain falls. Actors learn to create a character’s back story and experiment with voice and physicality. As an actor and playwright, I love words. I also love Author assemblies. Give me a microphone and a multi-purpose room full of kids and I’m in heaven.

WOTS: For your books “Goldie Locks has Chicken Pox” and “Little Bo Peep Can’t Get to Sleep” you incorporate flawlessly characters from many different nursery rhymes. Was it a conscious decision which characters to use or was it defined by the use of verse?

ED: Thanks so much for the kind words. The whole concept of nursery rhyme characters having experiences other than just breaking Baby Bear’s chair came after I directed a high school production of Into the Woods (A Sondheim/Lapine musical that, coincidentally, debuted at San Diego’s Old Globe in 1986.). I honestly never try to write in rhyme. It just happens, probably due to all those song lyrics I wrote down as a teenager, years of touring with a children’s theater company, and directing Shakespeare.

WOTS: We here at Writing on the Sidewalk tend to procrastinate with our writing, where do you fit in Procrastinator or Proactive?

ED: Most of the time, I’m proactive. This YA novel seems like it’s taking forever, but I mean it when I say that people rarely succeed on talent alone. It takes patience, professionalism, and persistence. The last time I procrastinated big time was when I had to write Progress Reports, call a parent, or correct piles of tests or essays. The beauty of writing children’s books is that my life is now free of report cards, and I still get motivate kids to read and write. : ) How cool is that?

WOTS: Thanks Erin for taking the time to visit with us on the Sidewalk.

If you’d like to learn more about Erin be sure to check out her website erindealey.com.

2 Responses

Thank you, Sue, for this wonderful interview, and thank you Erin for all the goodies you have shared with your readers. I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation with Deborah Warren at the San Diego chapter SCBWI meeting. You are a true inspiration!